Why Hate ‘Em? Answer: They “Damn Near” Killed WarPaint!

Why do the Chiefs and Raiders hate each other so?

There are many explanations as to when the storied rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland… er, Los Angeles… er, Oakland… er, Las Vegas… Raiders began and what the catalyst was. Some believe it is because both teams were in the AFL West Division and had to play each other twice a year. After the AFL’s creation in 1960, and prior to their merger with the NFL in 1970, the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs were AFL Champions three times, while the Raiders were champs only once. Additionally, the Raiders lost the AFL Championship twice, once to the Chiefs. The Chiefs never lost it during that time… just sayin’.

Others will allude to 1967 when the Kansas City Athletics baseball team moved to Oakland. Kansas City was awarded an expansion MLB team just two years later, in 1969. Surprise of surprises, the Kansas City Royals were placed in the same division as the displaced Oakland Athletics.

Some might point to a strained relationship between original Chiefs owner and founder, Lamar Hunt, and the legendary Al Davis. Davis was a 10% owner of the Raiders, working hard to become a managing general partner. Davis became AFL commissioner in 1966. However, all the while, Hunt was working behind the scenes with Dallas Cowboys owner Tex Schramm on a merger with the NFL that would be fully completed prior to the 1970 season. Problem was that Hunt and Schramm agreed that the new NFL commissioner would be Pete Rozelle — and Al Davis did not. An angry Davis resigned his post as AFL commissioner, in protest, and never truly forgave Hunt. He considered it a stab in the back which prevented him from running a merged NFL.

The litigious nature of their relationship continued throughout both of their lives. Davis put the Chiefs at the top of his hit list. Hunt accused Davis of placing bounties on the heads of Chiefs players.

I’m not sure where the roots of the rivalry began. My hunch is that it is a culmination of all three theories. I’m just glad that it exists. It is good for Chiefs fans, good for Raiders fans, good for the AFC West, and great for the NFL.

In 1969, the Chiefs met the heavily favored Raiders in the Oakland Coliseum for the AFL Championship Game. Although both teams were 12-2, the Raiders were the AFL West Champions, as they had beaten the Chiefs in both of their meetings during the regular season. So sure were the Raiders that the outcome of the game would be theirs that year, that head coach John Madden made sure that his players had their bags packed so they could leave immediately after the contest and travel directly to New Orleans, where they would face the Minnesota Vikings a week later in Super Bowl IV. Or so they thought.

The Chiefs players saw (or got word of) the Raiders packed bags and it was all the inspiration they needed. Although the Raiders scored with a touchdown in the first quarter, the Chiefs would go on to hold them scoreless for the remaining three quarters, all the while hanging 17 points on the Raiders. The Raider players went home — bags in hand and tail tucked firmly between their legs — while the Chiefs went on to beat the Vikings the next week and earned the title of Super Bowl IV champs.

The seventies brought a new era to the rivalry, with the Raiders taking 12 of the 20 meetings between the two, along with two ties. On a glorious day in 1975, however, the Chiefs hung a 42-10 shellacking on the Raiders. After each touchdown, the Chiefs live horse mascot — WarPaint — would circle the field after each touchdown scored. Raiders coach John Madden would later sarcastically quip, “We couldn’t beat the Chiefs, but we damn near killed their horse.“

The Raiders continued their dominance of the Chiefs into the eighties, again winning 12 of 19 meetings between the two (one less game because of 1982 strike-shortened season). The Raiders owned the rivalry in the seventies and eighties and weakened the status of the rivalry. Chiefs and Raiders fans born during this era knew little, if anything, of the ‘so-called rivalry’.

However, 1989 brought changes along with a renewed rivalry. Newly hired head coach Marty Schottenheimer was no fan of the Raiders or its owner Davis. Schottenheimer felt that the Raiders were arrogant and that Davis and his Raiders thought they were better than everyone else.

It was he who coined the term “Raider Week” for each week the Chiefs played the Raiders, “It was different.I’d walk in there in the meetings during Raider week and before I could open my mouth, the guys would look around and say, ‘Hey guys, the coach is here. Let’s go!. It’s Raider week!”

The acquisition of Hall-of-Famers Joe Montana and Marcus Allen in 1993 significantly increased Chiefs success against the Raiders, but further elevated the rivalry. In his final three seasons in with the team, the Raiders relegated their Super Bowl MVP to back-up RB due to a contract dispute. Claimed Allen of Davis, “…he tried to ruin the latter part of my career, tried to devalue me… They don’t want me to play.”

But play the former Raider did! In his first year as a Chief, the Pro Football Players Association named Allen the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He was a workhorse for the Chiefs in 76 games of five seasons until his retirement in 1997. However, those matchups against his former team were his own private Super Bowl twice a year.

Allen’s hatred of Davis combined with his on-field excellence proved paramount in helping Schottenheimer mount a staggering 18-3 record against the Raiders until the coach left the Chiefs in 1998.

In 1998, in what I can only describe as one of the most tremendous goofs in Chiefs history, the Chiefs opted to go with Elvis Grbac as starting quarterback over Rich Gannon. Gannon was a fan-favorite, who served as backup to Steve Bono, and Grbac, much to the chagrin of Chiefs Kingdom. Gannon then signed as a free agent with the Raiders in 1999. As a Raider, Gannon would go on to lead the Raiders to a Super Bowl appearance following the 2002 season.

Fortunately, the Chiefs held on to their winning record in the first decade of the century at 12-8.

If you are keeping score (and I most certainly am), the Chiefs are still in the lead, as this decade draws to its close at 11-7. In fact, the Chiefs lead the series since the creation of both teams at 65-53-2.

However, will the rivalry endure?

Chiefs MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes sure thinks so,

“When you play the Oakland Raiders when you’re the Kansas City Chiefs, you know they’re going to come out with that mentality that they’re going to win. They’re going to come out fighting. It’s a rivalry game.”

Head coach Andy Reid is no stranger to NFL rivalries, having faced the Dallas Cowboys twice a year in his tenure as Philadelphia Eagles. No worries, he says, “I know this, when it comes to Chiefs and Raiders, it doesn’t matter records.“

I am all for the rivalry to continue and endure. It is the natural order of the universe. Harboring a healthy hatred for the Raiders is as important to me as is breathing, sleeping, eating, and working. It’s what I do to get by in the world. I need not wait until Raider week or even football season to hate the Raiders. I am a Raider-hater for life!

However, I taught my children and grandchildren it is wrong to hate anyone or anything without a valid reason. I swore to myself that I would find a valid reason (other than they are the Raiders) to hate them. I officially declare that I hate the Raiders because they damn near killed Warpaint in 1975!

I have a frien… er, an acquaintance… who is a Raider fan.  They asked me recently if I will still hate the Raiders after they move to Las Vegas as he irritatedly scratched at the sensitive area underneath his ankle monitor.

“Bet” on it! (… see what I did there?)

Bonus Fun Fact:  The last AFL football game ever played (that is, an AFL team against another AFL team) was the 1969 AFL Championship Game mentioned earlier in this article.  You know, the one where the Raiders had to take their packed suitcases back home because they lost.

Michael Travis Rose — ArrowheadOne

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